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| The Grand Turk |
| US pastor’s lawyer plans appeal to Turkish constitutional court |
| 2018-08-23 |
| [ARABNEWS] The lawyer for the American Christian pastor on trial for terrorism charges in ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... said on Wednesday he planned to appeal to the constitutional court to seek Andrew Brunson’s release after being rejected by a lower court last week. Brunson is at the center of a row between Turkey and the US, which has exacerbated a crisis in Turkey’s lira and reverberated across global markets. The evangelical pastor, who has lived in Turkey for two decades, has been detained for 21 months on terrorism charges, which he denies. He is under house arrest. "Once the upper court’s rejection has been confirmed in writing we will apply to the constitutional court," lawyer Ismail Cem Halavurt said in comments reported by Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper that he confirmed to Rooters. Once domestic legal avenues are exhausted, if necessary the defense would then apply to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), he said. "We are hopeful regarding the constitutional court, but if it is rejected there, we will go to the ECHR without hesitation," he said. The court in Turkey’s Izmir province which last week rejected the appeal said evidence was still being collected and the pastor posed a flight risk, according to a copy of the court ruling seen by Rooters. Abdulkadir Selvi, a Hurriyet newspaper columnist close to the government, likened the constitutional court appeal plan to the case of journalist Mehmet Altan, who took a similar course of action and was released in June after being tossed in the clink Please don't kill me! on charges of aiding coup plotters. Brunson is accused of terrorism charges and aiding the network of a US-based Islamic preacher blamed by Ankara for criminal masterminding a coup attempt in July 2016 against President Tayyip Erdogan. In an interview with Rooters on Monday, US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... said he would give Turkey no concessions in return for the release of Brunson. Ankara has not responded to Trump’s comments. |
| Posted by:Fred |